United Methodist Church Westlake Village

United Methodist Church Westlake Village
  • 5.0 (2)
  • CHRISTIANITY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Audio of Pastor Darren Cowdrey's weekly message, as we work together toward fulfilling our mission statement: "Setting a Course for a Better Life." Live-streamed weekly from our campus in Westlake Village, CA.  Video of this entire worship service is available for viewing or listening on our home page at http://www.umcwv.org for approximately 3 weeks, and then also available on our YouTube channel at https://bit.ly/4hFmuBZ All songs used in compliance with our CCLI and streaming licenses.Copyright License # 1291056Streaming License #CSPL075029 If you'd like to support our ministries, please follow this link: https://give.tithe.ly/?formId=6fe0e233-47e0-4a4b-8d21-f21ad5e75db8

  1. Palm Sunday And The King Who Refuses Violence

    MAR 29

    Palm Sunday And The King Who Refuses Violence

    Send us Fan Mail A triumphal entry is supposed to end with a coronation, but this one fades out. We follow Jesus into Jerusalem and slow down long enough to notice the strange choices: a donkey instead of a stallion, palm branches instead of fine fabric, a crowd hungry for change but unsure what kind of king they are actually welcoming. That tension is the doorway into a bigger question: what happens when our faith is built on outcomes, proof, and quick fixes, and life refuses to cooperate? We connect Palm Sunday to Lent and the Exodus journey of faith: being carried by forces we do not control, hearing God’s call, receiving provision, and still discovering that structure and rules do not make us “done.” Faith is not a straight line. It cycles through deep trust, drifting separation, and the vulnerable moments where we finally admit we cannot do it on our own. Along the way, the sermon names the real triggers that push people from praise to cynicism: injustice that overwhelms us, anxiety that will not quiet down, and even hard Bible passages that make us ask, “What do we do with this, God?” Richard Rohr offers language that turns this from abstract spirituality into a practice for real life: our brokenness becomes the raw material of God’s restoration. We talk about how unprocessed suffering can make us bitter and blaming, and how “transforming pain” keeps us from transmitting it to everyone around us. Holy Week then becomes more than a calendar. It becomes an invitation to bring separation, hurt, and doubt into God’s presence, so Easter new life is not only a story from 2,000 years ago, but something we can begin to taste now. If this resonated, subscribe so you do not miss what comes next, share the episode with someone walking through a hard season, and leave a review. What part of the faith cycle are you in right now? Support the show

    20 min
  2. The Ten Commandments As A Way Of Love

    MAR 22

    The Ten Commandments As A Way Of Love

    Send us Fan Mail Freedom sounds simple until you actually have it. The wilderness is where you learn what still owns you, what you keep reaching for, and what kind of community you’re becoming while you figure it out. That’s why the Ten Commandments arrive when they do in Exodus: not as random religious rules, but as guidance for newly freed people learning how to live without Pharaoh in their head. We walk through the Exodus journey we’ve been tracing during Lent and zoom in on the commandments as both personal and communal formation. We explore why the list is structured in two directions, trust toward God and responsibility toward neighbour, and how Jesus later condenses the whole thing into love God and love neighbour. Along the way, we share a handful of biblical insights that open up the text: the commandments as the beginning of a much larger set of laws, the idea that grace comes before law, what it means that early Israel’s faith wasn’t always “monotheism” as we imagine it, and why Scripture preserves two versions of the commandments in Exodus and Deuteronomy. Then we bring it home to everyday life. Most of us know the feeling of trying to give something up and discovering it has more control than we thought. Whether it’s food, a habit, a reaction, or an old pattern that keeps pulling us back, Exodus gives us language for that struggle and a way forward. The goal isn’t behaviour management; it’s learning a better way that makes God’s love real to the people around us and, just as importantly, real inside our own hearts. If this conversation helps you, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find it. Support the show

    19 min
  3. Bread From Heaven In The Wilderness

    MAR 15

    Bread From Heaven In The Wilderness

    Send us Fan Mail Freedom can be terrifying when it doesn’t come with a full pantry and a clear map. We pick up the Exodus story right after the escape through the Red Sea, when the Israelites hit the wilderness and start wishing they were back in Egypt. It’s a startling moment of spiritual honesty: when the future feels uncertain, even slavery can start to look “stable.” We sit with that anxiety and ask what it reveals about the way fear, comfort, and habit can quietly run our lives. From there, we talk about the “lowercase gods” that grab our attention and loyalty, not just the dramatic ones, but the ordinary attachments that promise relief: coffee, sweets, anger, procrastination, and the patterns we reach for when we’re stressed. The point isn’t shame. It’s clarity. The wilderness exposes what we’re leaning on, and why the old life can feel easier even when it isn’t good. The heart of the passage is manna, “bread from heaven,” and God’s strange instruction to gather only what you need for today. We explore why that boundary is actually a gift, how daily provision forms daily trust, and why this sounds a lot like the wisdom of one-day-at-a-time spiritual practice. We also reflect on Walter Brueggemann’s insight that real glory shows up in vulnerable places, not in wealth, power, knowledge, or control. If you’re trying to rebuild faith, reset a habit, or find steady ground in a hard season, this is for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s in a wilderness season, and leave a review telling us what helps you practice “today is enough.” Support the show

    18 min
  4. Out-frog, Out-snake, Out-locust: Our God Goes Big

    MAR 8

    Out-frog, Out-snake, Out-locust: Our God Goes Big

    Send us Fan Mail What if salvation isn’t a status but a way of standing in the world? We follow the sweep from the burning bush to Passover to the Red Sea and ask how a people learn to live free. Along the way, the commands that once sounded strange—choose a lamb, paint blood on your door, eat in haste—turn into a training ground for trust. The Israelites don’t signal God’s memory; they form their own. With each act, they move from fear to belonging, from Pharaoh’s script to God’s story. We sit with the hard parts too: ten plagues, a hardened heart, and the unsettling portrait of divine power. Are these texts showing a vengeful God, or are they mythologizing history to proclaim that counterfeit powers collapse before the Creator? Egypt’s serpents and river gods meet a staff that becomes a serpent and swallows theirs; the message is not pyrotechnics but supremacy. Still, the bigger risk for us may be closer to home: turning “saved” into a scoreboard. When we split the world into insiders and outsiders, we miss that each of us is a mix—faithful and fickle, devoted and distracted—sometimes worshiping God, sometimes the altar of the chocolate chip cookie. Grace re-centers the whole conversation. By grace you have been saved through faith is more than a memory verse; it’s a map. Grace declares what God has done and is doing; faith makes that truth real in our lives. The Israelites step into parted waters because they’ve already marked their doors. We step into costly love, honesty under pressure, rest that defies anxiety, forgiveness that disarms rivalry. That’s what “blood on the door” looks like now: embodied trust that turns belief into movement. If you’re ready to rethink salvation beyond labels and toward lived freedom, press play, walk with us through the text, and consider where you’re being invited to trust next. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s wrestling with faith, and leave a review to help others find the journey too. Support the show

    20 min
  5. Should We Stop Waiting For Miracles And Start Listening To God?

    MAR 1

    Should We Stop Waiting For Miracles And Start Listening To God?

    Send us Fan Mail A quiet life in Midian, a bush that blazes without burning, and a voice that won’t let go—this is where our journey starts. Not with spectacle for spectacle’s sake, but with an invitation to trade comfort for calling and drift for direction. We walk through Moses’ story to confront our own: the habits that grip us, the fears that stall us, and the excuses that keep us from the richer, braver life God holds out. We unpack the five classic excuses—Who am I? Who are you? What if they don’t believe me? I’m not eloquent. Send someone else—and match each one with God’s steady answers: presence, character, signs, empowerment, and partnership. Along the way, we get honest about modern false gods that start as gifts and harden into needs: sugar, screens, approval, convenience. The point isn’t guilt; it’s freedom. When gifts stop ruling us, we gain space to say yes to justice, mercy, and the gritty work of love in both public courage and private integrity. This conversation isn’t theory. It’s a practical map for moving beyond the demand for miraculous proof and into everyday faithfulness. We talk about how to notice God’s voice in ordinary moments, how community and communion train our attention, and why small consistent yeses matter more than one big, cinematic sign. If you’ve been waiting for a burning bush before you act, this is your nudge to look closer at the ground beneath your feet and the neighbor beside you. If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review with the excuse that most challenges you—then tell us the one step you’ll take this week. Support the show

    12 min
  6. Finding Eden In A Noisy World

    FEB 22

    Finding Eden In A Noisy World

    Send us Fan Mail What if the point of Lent isn’t gritting our teeth but finding our center again? We open a new season by stepping into the Exodus story, watching a mother push a basket into dangerous water and trusting a future she can’t see. That basket shares a word with Noah’s ark, a quiet signal that what’s inside is sacred. The connection is more than literary—it reframes us, too, as precious cargo worth protecting, guiding, and growing. From there we get honest about the ache Blaise Pascal called the God-shaped hole. We reach for meaning, often by grabbing what promises quick relief: pleasure that numbs, money that insulates, power that controls, even the sharp energy of resentment. The smaller substitutes show up in habits we joke about—sugar, screens, coffee—yet they still train our hearts. Lent invites a kinder audit: not shame, but clarity. What’s ruling my attention? What’s scripting my day? What might I let go of so love can lead? We also rethink Eden. Following Richard Rohr, we stop treating it as a lost location and start receiving it as a way of seeing—unitive consciousness, a felt nearness to God we regularly forget. Scripture is one long rescue: Adam to Noah, Abraham to the prophets, all the way to Jesus, God keeps calling us from exile to home. The path is rarely straight. Two steps back and three forward still counts as grace. That’s why our Lenten focus is practical. Choose what you can control. Trade one ruling habit for one grounding practice: silence before screens, a walk before worry, generosity before grasping. Seek justice where you stand and let respect for every person be the public face of your faith. By the end, we circle back to the river and the courage it takes to release control. Surrender here isn’t defeat; it’s alignment. You are precious cargo, and your days are worth this care. If this journey helps you breathe deeper and love steadier, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review so others can find their way back to center too. Support the show

    24 min
  7. Wicked, Good, Or Both?

    FEB 15

    Wicked, Good, Or Both?

    Send us Fan Mail What if the line between wicked and good isn’t a line at all, but a question we keep asking until power loses its grip on appearances? We take Oz’s yellow brick road in a new direction, following Wicked’s reimagining of Elphaba to explore how cultures equate beauty with virtue, power with righteousness, and compliance with moral worth—and how those shortcuts fail the people who most need justice. We start with L. Frank Baum’s political DNA in the original Oz and how early Hollywood narrowed women into rigid archetypes. Then we shift into Gregory Maguire’s Oz, where Elphaba’s green skin marks her as other, setting the stage for a life of exclusion that strangely becomes the wellspring of empathy. Education gives her a platform, but conscience gives her purpose: to defend sentient Animals, confront a stage-managed Wizard, and expose systems more invested in order than goodness. That revelation is familiar—like Dorothy’s unveiling of the man behind the curtain—but here it’s sharper, aimed at our age of spectacle. The heart of the conversation lands on sacrifice and leadership. Elphaba recognizes that nuance rarely wins a crowd. Her decision to absorb fear and hatred so Glinda can move reforms forward is a risky, strategic act of love. We connect that arc to Philippians 2, where Christ empties himself, choosing humility over display and solidarity over supremacy. Humility in this frame is not weakness; it is disciplined strength that lays down hubris to make room for mercy, justice, and shared courage. Along the way we ask hard questions: Who benefits from our obedience to appearances? Which cages do we ignore because the system feels safe? And where might our own wounds be the doorway to deeper compassion? If you’re wrestling with polarized labels, disillusioned by shiny authority, or longing for a grounded path toward justice, this conversation offers language, story, and scripture that meet in one place: humble strength that serves the oppressed. Listen, share with someone who loves Oz or loves hard questions, and leave a review so more seekers can find the show. Support the show

    24 min
  8. Frankenstein, Faith, And The Monster Within

    FEB 8

    Frankenstein, Faith, And The Monster Within

    Send us Fan Mail A stitched body asks for love, and a brilliant maker runs. That image from Frankenstein has haunted generations for a reason—because it’s not just a gothic scene, it’s a blueprint for what happens when progress outruns care. We take Mary Shelley’s enduring question—what do we owe the life we create—and bring it into our world of always-on internet and fast-moving AI, where knowledge feels omniscient and power scales at the speed of code. Guided by Guillermo del Toro’s reimagining, we look through the creature’s eyes and find a startling moral reversal: the supposed monster becomes the most human presence on screen. That pivot reframes our own moment. When platforms shape our attention, algorithms influence justice and opportunity, and models predict our choices, creators aren’t just inventors—they are stewards. We talk about responsibility that looks like love in practice: guardrails, consent, transparency, and a willingness to slow down when harm appears. We connect these themes to the ancient caution against playing God, not to shut innovation down, but to root it in empathy and humility. The turning point in del Toro’s story—where the creature forgives the doctor—lands like a roadmap for repair. Destruction is not the only answer to dangerous creations. We explore how mercy can meet design, how policy can protect dignity, and how makers, investors, and communities can share the duty of care. Along the way we unpack the internet’s “omniscience,” AI’s promise and peril, and the hard question of who should guide innovation: the fastest, the loudest, or the most accountable. If you care about technology, ethics, storytelling, or faith, this conversation offers a clear takeaway: ingenuity must be matched by humanity. Listen, share with a friend who works in tech or policy, and tell us—what do you think we owe what we build? Subscribe, leave a review, and join the conversation. Support the show

    22 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Audio of Pastor Darren Cowdrey's weekly message, as we work together toward fulfilling our mission statement: "Setting a Course for a Better Life." Live-streamed weekly from our campus in Westlake Village, CA.  Video of this entire worship service is available for viewing or listening on our home page at http://www.umcwv.org for approximately 3 weeks, and then also available on our YouTube channel at https://bit.ly/4hFmuBZ All songs used in compliance with our CCLI and streaming licenses.Copyright License # 1291056Streaming License #CSPL075029 If you'd like to support our ministries, please follow this link: https://give.tithe.ly/?formId=6fe0e233-47e0-4a4b-8d21-f21ad5e75db8

Information

  • Creator
    United Methodist Church Westlake Village
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    511
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 United Methodist Church Westlake Village
  • Show Website
    United Methodist Church Westlake Village